Rennline LED Headlight Quality Reviews

[AustinL]

I recently received a set of Rennline LED headlights that were unfortunately damaged in shipping so I sent them back. However, I had a chance to look at the construction and was wondering how these have held up for people over time?

The housing is made of plastic and there's a mold line directly at the top where it hooks onto the headlight bucket. The mold line is obvious when viewed in the right light, then the slightest pressure on this area shows a gap in the mold line. It wasn't broken, and both housings were like this. Rennline had great customer support getting these shipped back, but they said this mold line is normal.

I have a hard time trusting that weak plastic being the only thing holding the top of the light in place. What's your experience?

[Anjizkit]

I’ll check mine this week. I was huffing and swearing while installing so didn’t check for cracks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Robs911RSR]

Hi Austin - I converted to these lights about a year ago and haven't had an issues. The installation is slow, but the end result is superb for actually seeing at night. Always had good luck with returns with Rennline. Just trying to say that I thought these were worth the trouble.

[Balisong]

Pita to install, pita to aim, but they replaced the cracked lens that occurred during said pita install. Happy with their service.

[Snwmble]

I had a really hard time installing these headlights and I’ve pulled motors and have done manual swaps lol. Once i got them in, the thought of removing it to adjust the beam was out of the question. Rennline quality has always been mediocre for me compared to other bespoke companies…..but their price point makes it easier for many to swallow.

What worked for me when dealing with the headlights, was hooking the top that you took a picture of, then putting the bottom screw of the painted trim, then gently pushing that painted trim at 12 o’clock. Nothing else worked for me and this seemed to work every time.

[jmd88]

Had mine for a year plus.
Installation difficulty - kinda, but I got it. LOTA pushing down from the top just to get things to line up.

Overall nice quality. When I first installed them I was very happy with the lowbeam output. Was disappointed with the high-beam as it had virtually no change in light output w/ only a VERY slight raised projection beam.

I've gone through 2 sets of seals and my second set is also splitting at the seamline and both lights have had water invasion as a result.

They replaced my seals and mirrored backs when I first reached out the first time, I've been too busy and disappointed with the fading that I've not reached out again.

Since then I've added the relay kit and yet they have both faded to less than 30% light output in the last few months. I have tested and have correct voltage at the relays, but have not taken the several hours to pull them and do all the testing of the various harness configurations. When I first experience dimming I was told it was likely my headlight switch failing - but the relay kit should make that not the case, right?

TLDR;
Day 1 - loved them
Day 365 - bummed ( My LED foglights are 300% brighter )

I follow up after taking the time to "trouble shoot them".

[Balisong]

I was under the impression relays shouldn’t be necessary with these LED lights.

[hadokenny]

I also installed these headlights recently. Definitely takes a lot of finessing to get them fit right. One tip that helped me was to assemble everything first off the car to make sure the gaskets, lens, and trim sit right before taking them apart again for actual installation.

Some issues I had was the chrome trim wouldng fit over the black plastic trim initially. The plastic base trim seemed slightly oversized on the driver's side. Passenger side fitted perfect. I had to sand the edge of the plastic base trim just a tiny bit for the chrome trip to fit over.

Then trying to get the bottom mount screw to thread through the headlight trim took many micro adjustments on how the headlight sits on the headlight buckets to be able to secure the the screw to the body. I used a long screw driver through the hole to get alignment right before putting the screw through.

Despite all that, my driver' side still does not sit identical to the passenger side, but its good enough.

[Dan J]

I bought a set Total junk I sent them back

[Wish76]

Had mine about two years. Initial installation was a PITA, but got them on.

A couple months ago, someone pointed out my driver's side light was dimmer than the other. Opened it up and one of the LED's connection disintegrated. Reached out to Rennline - they said they've never seen that before but would replace it free of charge (to include shipping). As the model had since been updated, they sent me two so both lights would be even.

[Trojands]

Anyone have experience with 9-Haus and how they compare to Rennline?
https://www.9-haus.com/

[AustinL]

Thanks for sharing your experiences! Sounds like there are a few inherent issues not only related to installing these units.

I've looked into several different brands now, I'm currently leaning towards 9ElevenHeadlights (aka dR Design LLC) at this point as they seem to be top of their game.

[Enthusiast24]

Originally Posted by Trojands

Anyone have experience with 9-Haus and how they compare to Rennline?
https://www.9-haus.com/

Did you get any feedback on the 9-haus headlights?

[Tylerncc]

Posting this here since it seems to be related... I bought by '87 Targa about a year and a half ago and the previous owner had installed the Rennline LED conversion kit with black reflectors and black trim rings. They look great, but I didnt love the flat lenses they came with. I bought a set of the clear H4 lenses to swap in and discovered the trim rings dont seem to fit around the H4s as well as the flat lenses. I actually previously took the headlights out to flip the flat lenses as they were installed upside down, so I knew getting them back in the car would be tricky.

I also watched one of their videos on installing them and they say that they bench build all sets to make sure everything fits well together since apparently trim rings can vary.

So my thought was to just buy a whole new set so I know they fit together, even though that seems a little insane. But now you cant buy them with black trim rings, only chrome or primed. So I thought I would buy the primed ones and paint them matte black. But when I look at some of the detail pics on the parts listing I can see that the underside of the top of the trim ring doesn’t actually have an edge to grab onto the headlight housing, which is exactly why mine keep popping off. So I’m not sure I want to take the chance on a whole new set. Also not sure I want to spend more than twice the money on the 9Eleven set, even though they’re far superior. My car just isn’t nice enough to justify it. And I think the Morimoto lights look cool but too modern for the car.

So I guess I’m stuck with trying to find a way to get these to fit and get the trim rings to stay in place? Anyone else have issues with the trim rings on installation that they were able to solve? Any help is appreciated!

[BlueHorizon]

Funny you should ask this question as I spent most of yesterday installing a set and had a nightmare doing so. One of them cracked on the top and ended up having to grind down the top part of the lip on the fender to have them actually seat on the right hand side.

I also had problems getting the trim ring to stay in place on one side. It’s there now but I suspect it will pop off once on the road. Right now I can’t give you much advice in terms or retaining the rights, but the design of having them loosely seated on a piece of 3D printed plastic doesn’t seem durable.

Now mine were purchased several years ago so may be an older version, but I see above that there is a new version which also appears to have issues with the design.

If you aren’t looking to buy expensive LED ones then perhaps look at old factory units available on eBay?

[Michael.]

I've had them on the car for several months now. The light output is decent. There was a sale running so I got them for a song. Install was horrendous. No quality issues to comment on thus far. Doing it over I'd probably spend the extra bucks and get the 9Haus kit.

[Yburyelon]

Agree, very disappointed with the build quality.

One of the lenses has a pitting/manufacturing flaw. The inside of the lens as some light damage to the rim of the glass. The lenses are also completely impossible to get inside the housing. Why are they selling something that isn't already assembled if its so difficult to put together? They should factory assemble it and figure out some other way to adjust/calibrate the light beam.

I regret buying these. Also stupidly got the trim rings already painted, so hard to return.

[Helix8]

I’ve stopped buying Rennline products as they are aesthetically pleasing the quality is questionable.

[SkunkWorks]

Laughable.

My projector LED bulbs are less than 1/5 the cost of these and completely blow it out of the water in light output and quality.

[Rickysa]

Timely thread...

In a word: Impossible.

I bought a set ($1K...are these cheap by comparison?) last November. Yesterday I gave up and called with the offer that I'd pay to ship them at my cost both ways and gladly pay whatever hourly fee the chose to assemble them and send them back (no dice, "liability")

I happily say all the conversations with support have been helpful and they did replace one of the plastic mounts because the micro-thin portion that holds the entire thing from the top broke.

bad, bad, bad experience...and all I wanted was better lighting.

I researched here (a bunch) and swapped emails with Daniel Stern Lighting (great guy) about other options and clearly made the wrong decision...not wanting to derail this thread, I'd welcome someone's success story on which way they went via PM/email